Zen Report: #CancelColbert, chop Suey and ‘hashtag activism’

Last week, “hashtag activist” Suey Park mobilized the Twitterverse with “#CancelColbert,” a discussion that was on Twitter’s trending list for more than 36 hours.

The 23-year-old Korean-American was infuriated by a Stephen Colbert segment on Comedy Central March 26 that meant to bring attention to Washington Redskins owner, Dan Snyder. Rather than retire the team mascot, Snyder launched a benefit for Native Americans, the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation.

To mock Snyder, Colbert put on his racist, politically incorrect mask. He said he will create The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.

Then on Thursday, a staffer used @ColbertReport to tweet “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Ching Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” That’s when, as Colbert put it, “twit hit the fan.”

Park cried racist and asked her 22,300 followers to help trend “#CancelColbert.” Reaction to her campaign was mixed. Some agreed with her; others said Park was being overly sensitive and should use the dictionary to look up the word “satire.”

Although Park claims to be on a crusade against bigotry, her pen name, Suey, can be construed as racist unless one believes she has a sense of humor.

Park is Korean but her nom de plume has pseudo-Chinese origins. (Thanks for reinforcing the idea that all Asians look alike.) Plus, chop suey doesn’t exist in China. Like orange chicken and fortune cookies, the vegetable and meat stir-fry dish is an American invention.

But she and other outspoken Asians are starting an important discussion. And that’s the only way things can change.

Some of my columns have received super racist comments. One dude said Chinese are copycats and haven’t invented anything noteworthy in the last 5,000 years. This person also suggested I return to my country (Yo, I was born here!), so the U.S. government doesn’t have to spend money to “keep eyes on you dangerous Chinese … greedy, filthy, uncivilized, clever, loud and arrogance (sic).”

Look. I can take a joke. Stephen Colbert is hilarious. I didn’t take offense when children on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” proposed killing everyone in China to end America’s debt problem. Comedians aren’t meant to be taken seriously.

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The real issue is some people think off-color jokes about Asians are OK. We didn’t suffer centuries of slavery in the U.S. nor have we been victims of genocide. So everything is game. Oversexualized, exotic women? Emasculated, strange men? Yeah, that’s us — or at least how we are portrayed.

In an episode of ABC’s “Trophy Wife,” an adopted Chinese boy, Bert Harrison, wanted to dress up as Iron Man. His quirky, hippy mom gives him a costume and said, “Go ahead and try it on to see if I need to tweak the crotch.”

She is, of course, alluding to the stereotype that Asian men come in small packages. This joke is so accepted that ABC’s writers didn’t find it inappropriate to use that wisecrack on someone playing an 8-year-old boy.

Anyway, Bert puts on his Iron Man costume, which comes with two props: an ironing board and a T-shirt on a hanger. Note to the wise: Koreans, not Chinese, generally operate dry cleaners. We ain’t all the same.

Zen Vuong is a staff writer at the Pasadena Star-News. Send your hate mail to her editor, Frank Girardot. You can follow Zen at Twitter.com/ZenReport or on Facebook.com/ZenReport.